Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/40

mand did not fail to arouse jealousies on the part of some, and the increased consequence which he gave himself in his dress, manners, and way of living served to stimulate these sentiments, so that hardly had the work of organisation got fairly under way, when these mischief makers adroitly began to work on the suspicious spirit of Velasquez. A dwarf, who played court jester in the Governor's household, was inspired to make oracular jokes in which thinly veiled warnings of what was to be expected from Cortes's overmasterful spirit, once he was free from control and in command of such an armada, were conveyed to Velasquez; these double barbed jests did not fail of their purpose, so that his distrust finally completely mastered his reason, and pushed him to the incredible folly of deciding to revoke Cortes's appointment as commander, and substitute one Vasco Porcallo a native of Caceres. This decision he made known to Lares and Duero, the very men through whom Cortes had negotiated to obtain his place, and they hastened to warn their protégé of the Governor's intention. To accept the humiliation, the public ridicule, to say nothing of the financial ruin into which the revocation of his appointment almost on the eve of sailing would have plunged him, was an alternative which never could have been for a moment considered by Cortes, who immediately took the one step essential to his salvation, which was to hasten his preparations, and, by unflagging efforts, to get his provisions and men on board that same day, and stand down the bay with all his ships during the night. He even seized the entire meat supply of the town for which he paid with a gold chain he wore. The accounts of the manner of the departure of the fleet also conflict. It has been represented as a veritable flight, but Bernal Diaz avers that, although he got everything ready very quickly and hastened the date of sailing, Cortes went with a number of others, and took formal leave of the Governor with embraces and mutual good wishes,